This invention relates to ventilator or breathing tubes used with medical patient's, especially persons brought into emergency rooms or patient's in intensive care units, and more particularly, to a ready to use, disposable, device for securing the tube in a patient's mouth or nostril to maintain the tube in place and prevent its dislodgment.
Oral and nasal endotracheal tubes are used, particularly in intensive care and emergency room situations to insure a patient's airways are clear for proper breathing and ventilation. In many instances, endotracheal or ET tubes are used in conjunction with ventilators, suction devices, etc. to provide vital treatment for a patient. Tube intubation usually requires use of some type of securement to prevent the tube from being dislodged or extubated. Unplanned extubations can be extremely harmful to the patient, and can occur as a result of the patient's movements such as when the patient pulls out the tube became of the discomfort it is causing him or her. Or, the tube may be inadvertently dislodged by the medical staff treating during patient treatment. See, for example, Techniques for preventing and managing unplanned extubations, The Journal of Critical Illness, Vol.9. No. 6, June, 1994, pages 609-619. As pointed out therein, estimates are that 15 million intubations are performed annually. Of these, unplanned extubations account for a significant number of extubations in critically ill patients (ibid. at p. 610).
The problem of adequately securing an endotracheal tube has been recognized in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat Nos. 5,237,988, 5,038,778, 4,906,234, 4,844,061, 4,326,515, 4,313,437, and 3,927,676. In each instance. the particular device employed is intended to maintain a tube in place. However, while these devices may accomplish their purpose, they do not necessarily do so in the most expeditious, easy to use manner that allows emergency room or intensive care personnel to intubate a patient when the need arises. The present invention provides a simple, low cost, easy-to-use device for attaching, holding, and maintaining an endotracheal tube in place.